Hopefully the holidays will bring better luck to Hero Ly Tong, because these last few days haven’t been good. First, he got defrauded out of a bunch of money. Then he lost his lawyers in a case of assault against a singer – it’s not clear if he fired them or they fired him. He also lost faith in the high hopes he’d pinned on the newly elected D.A., “a Jew.”

Somebody in Atlanta – with an address on “Gun Club Rd” no less, printed checkbooks with the same account and routing number (which Tong called “Round” number) as Tong’s, and wrote it for $50. Tong lost $50 from that, he said in an email.

Then someone charged his credit card number $100 and $6.95. Not clear how it happened.

And then he bought some video editing software from Corel, and even though he couldn’t download it he got charged for it all the same. So he’s out another $79.98.

Check out this printout from his online banking. He complained to his bank, Wells Fargo, and got his $50 back, but not the other three charges.

And on 12/22 he announced that his lawyers were not representing him any more. The main point seems to be that he wanted to proceed to trial but his lawyers kept trying to make him plead.

And apparently they didn’t want to go to trial, so they filed a motion to withdraw, he consented, and now he’s on the Public Defender’s list.

In a lengthy email explaining his reasonings, Tong disclosed that his lawyer Tam Nguyen (in pic below) also told Tong that the current judge, Philip Pennypacker, is very “friendly” (Tam Nguyen’s words as quoted by Tong) to Nguyen because he was one of the people who voted for the judge. But the judge was retiring, so Nguyen wanted Tong to plead out.

Tong also disclosed that his lawyers had told him the newly elected Santa Clara County District Attorney, “a Jew,” would be more sympathetic. But when the new D.A. didn’t fire the prosecutor in charge of the case, Kevin Cogbill, they freaked out. Check it out here if you read Vietnamese.

Guess it means Ly Tong won’t be saying “Chanukah Sameach” any time soon.

So, Merry Christmas, Ly Tong.

The dirty trick is a phony flyer, pretending to be on behalf of a city council candidate and sent to Viet voters, and it carries a picture of the communist flag.

Some Viet voters who received the flyer were incensed, and called the campaign offices of District 5 candidate Magdalena Carrasco to protest, and that’s how she found out about it.

It’s unclear what Carrasco did or didn’t do to make her the target. All sides rallied to condemn this fake mailer. The District Attorney is investigating. Mayor Chuck Reed in a written statement called it “a new low in San Jose campaigns.”

Councilwoman Nguyen in a message to Nguoi Viet Daily News said, “The recent mailer with the Communist flag that emerged in the District 5 council race has no place in San Jose politics. Voters should denounce such negative campaign.”

Her main opponent in the recall election, the Vietnamese American Community of Northern California, sent out a bilingual press release (English here, Vietnamese here) calling the flyer a “deplorable act of election fraud” that has “damaged the reputation of San Jose’s community.”

Even as some unknown person, who may not even be Viet, is giving the community a bad name, the Viets among themselves are slinging mud at each other and ensuring the reelection of Madison Nguyen.

As early as April 5, in District 7 (where Nguyen is the incumbent) candidates Minh Duong and Patrick Phu Le were attacking each other. Not too long before, the two were side by side in efforts to recall the only Viet councilwoman in San Jose.

Duong accuses Le of mishandling the recall campaign’s finances resulting in a fine imposed on them by the city. Le said all that happened was a late fee on the post-election report, which Le paid using his own money anyway. (Read a lengthy email from Le on the issue, here.)

Le in turn takes to task Duong’s public statement that he used to sell food stamps for cash. Selling food stamps for cash is a crime.

Things are now getting really bad. Some of the additional mud being flung (and some conspiracy theorists are saying Madison did it):

* Thomas Nguyen, another former recall activist now running for mayor, is accused of embezzling recall campaign funds and siphoning it into his campaign for mayor.

* Le’s father, a Buddhist activist in Vietnam, got called a communist.

* Duong is accused of being ethnic Chinese with the real last name Wong, as if it were a bad thing. And anyway he’s not.

Then Duong got hit with a complaint by the local firefighter’s union for a flyer featuring Duong and uniformed firemen. Apparently, it’s some kind of violation for firefighters to appear in uniform in political literature.

The funny thing is, it’s not even Duong’s flyer. The flyer is soft money, supposedly unconnected to the campaign, and paid for by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce PAC, which has endorsed Duong for the position.  The firefighters aren’t amused because they’ve endorsed Nguyen.

The LGBT contingent marched in the San Jose Tet Parade, and drew no controversies whatsoever.

Most of the arguments going on in the right-wing listservs have to do with only one question: Was Councilmember Madison Nguyen there?

If you thought it’s an easy answer – she’s either there or she’s not, right? – you’d be wrong.

The argument went back and forth something like this:

• Madison was there! The organizers are commies!

• No she wasn’t.

• You lied. I wasn’t there, but I know she was there.

So, perhaps because a bigger controversy was brewing, the LGBT contingent marched through with no problems. The group’s spokespeople, Sống Thật Radio, sent a report here.

Apparently they got one very nice woman who came out with her young son and helped distribute signs that said things like “Equality for All” and “Love and Support your Children” to the crowd.

And apparently they got one boo.

San Jose 2007

Proclaiming a need to let the Vietnamese-American community know more about LGBT, the coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who had marched in the Westminster Tet Parade are planning to march in San Jose’s Tet Parade this Sunday.

(Yes, San Jose does its Tet Parade a month after Tet, but that’s another story.)

A press release by the group – which now has a name: Partnership of Vietnamese LGBT Organizations – says that the opposition by the Vietnamese Interfaith Council to their marching in the Westminster Tet Parade is proof that

in the Vietnamese-American community, 1) there are individuals who do not have a clear understanding of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism, 2) there is a segment still unaware of the Vietnamese-American LGBT community, and 3) still another segment that refuses to accept that homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism exist in the Vietnamese-American community.

So they call for LGBT people to “march in strong numbers” in San Jose. The press release adds:

To join us in the march, please meet at the following time and place:

Time: 9:00 am (Sunday March 28, 2010)

Place: Victory Parking Lot on Market Street,  between E. Santa Clara and St. John (next to JumboGumbo Restaurant and behind Washington Mutual Bank)

*Look for our banners: Sống Thật Radio, Ô-Môi and Gay Vietnamese Alliance in the parking lot.

**There are many parking spaces on St. John Street and many parking spaces nearby.

Organization Contacts:

Thanh (Gay Vietnamese Alliance): (408) 718 – 7647

Vương (Sống Thật Radio): (408) 476 – 3977

Full text of press release follows the jump.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 18, 2010

Press Release Contact:  Duc Le (408) 332-0100

The Partnership of Vietnamese Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organizations will march in unity at the San Jose Tet Parade on March 28th to raise community awareness and to demonstrate the presence of the Vietnamese-American LGBT Community.

San José, CA – Press Release

There were strong oppositions and degrading comments about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals made by the Vietnamese Interfaith Council of America and Westminster’s Councilman Andy Quach to the presence of Vietnamese-American LGBT groups marching at the Tet Parade in Westminster on February 13, 2010.  The Vietnamese Interfaith Council of America encouraged their followers, other groups and the public to boycott the Tet Parade.  They accused homosexuals as being the ills of society and families.  They laid claim that homosexuality was not accepted in the 1000 years of Vietnamese culture and therefore gays and lesbians didn’t deserve to participate in the Tet Parade, which is a showcase of Vietnamese culture.

All of this creates great pain for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, as well as parents whose children are LGBTs.

This demonstrated to us that in the Vietnamese-American community, 1) there are individuals who do not have a clear understanding of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism, 2) there is a segment still unaware of the Vietnamese-American LGBT community, and 3) still another segment that refuses to accept that homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism exist in the Vietnamese-American community.

These are the reasons why the Partnership of Vietnamese Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organizations need to march in strong numbers at the San Jose Tet Parade on March 28^th. We need to demonstrate to those who oppose LGBT or those who deny the existence of LGBT in the Vietnamese-American Community that we are here and a part of the larger Vietnamese family.  Our strong showing will also help the community at large to understand more about who we are and sympathize with our plight.  We hope that this will translate into greater support for gay marriage and equal rights, while at the same time encouraging parents to accept and love their LGBT children. This Partnership is composed of Sống Thật Radio, Gay Vietnamese Alliance, Ô-Môi, and Vietnamese Lesbian and Bisexual Woman Network and Friends.

We look forward to your enthusiastic participation at the San Jose Tet Parade on March 28th.  Thank you very much.

To join us in the march, please meet at the following time and place:

Time: 9:00 am (Sunday March 28, 2010)

Place: Victory Parking Lot on Market Street,  between E. Santa Clara and St. John (next to JumboGumbo Restaurant and behind Washington Mutual Bank)

*Look for our banners: Sống Thật Radio, Ô-Môi and Gay Vietnamese Alliance in the parking lot.

**There are many parking spaces on St. John Street and many parking spaces nearby.

Organization Contacts:

Thanh (Gay Vietnamese Alliance): (408) 718 – 7647

Vương (Sống Thật Radio): (408) 476 – 3977

Sống Thật Radio is a grass roots organization which has the dual task of operating a radio program and of organizing social and political events that advocate, support and empower the Vietnamese-American LGBT community by increasing LGBT visibility and inclusiveness. The mission of the Radio Program is to enhance community awareness of LGBT issues that can then enable social change in attitude towards LGBT people.

Our goal is to improve the quality of life of Vietnamese LGBT people by reducing and eliminating the disparities within the Vietnamese-American community in dealing with LGBT issues.

Ô-Môi is a support group for lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender of Vietnamese descent. Our goal is to provide a support and resource space for queer, female Vietnamese to come out and network.

Gay Vietnamese Alliance provides a safe and supportive environment for gay, bisexual, and transgendered men of Vietnamese descent from all over the world to network, voice issues, promote wellness and foster leadership.

The Vietnamese Lesbian and Bisexual Woman Network and Friends is a support network of women, young and old alike, who provide support to Vietnamese women who are questioning their identities or simply proud to be Lesbians or Bisexual women.

In our ongoing efforts to strengthen partnerships with the mainstream Vietnamese and American society, we welcome open dialogue with the media and other community partners.

For more information about our organizations, please visit the following websites:

Sống Thật Radio: http://www.songthat.com/

Gay Vietnamese Alliance: http://www.gvalliance.org/

Council member Madison Nguyen, long the subject of protests by the plaintiff group, was elated. She told the Bolsavik, “The summary judgment clearly states none of the councilmember violated the Brown Act,” which is not exactly what the order said.

The plaintiff group Vietnamese-American Community of Northern California, on the other hand, sent out a notice to Vietnamese press (read here) saying the judge “has recognized that there was a Brown Act violation,” which isn’t true either.

Judge Mark H. Pierce‘s order, received Thursday (read here), ended the controversy over whether the City Council communicated improperly before voting to name the Story Road area “Saigon Business Distrct.” The plaintiff had claimed that the City Council violated the Brown Act through a series of email exchanges before the meeting.

The email allegedly resulted in a pre-meeting agreement by the majority to choose the name “Saigon Business District” over other names including “Little Saigon.” And the Council did vote in November 2007 to use the name “Saigon Business District.”

As protests erupted, the Council in its March 2008 meeting revoked its previous decision.

Judge Pierce (whom the plaintiff described in its press release as a new judge who lacks knowledge and experience) held that “the City Council’s alleged use of a series of communications to deliberate . . . was cured by its rescinding of Resolution No. 74127 on March 4, 2008.”

The alleged violation was thus cured, albeit not within the required 30-day period. However, the judge held that the “failure to cure its violation within 30 days is a ‘one-time past offense’ that is unrelated to a present or future violation.” Hence, no grounds for an injunction or declaratory relief.

Left alive is the second cause of action in which VACNORCAL alleges that the City improperly required them to pay $3,800 before complying with a Public Records Act request.

The Bolsavik suspects that whatever records requested were already produced as part of the lawsuit’s discovery, so it is unclear what kind of injunction would be appropriate now.

The plaintiff’s press release said they would “appeal to a higher court.” However, the group’s web site, several hours later still says they’re “deciding whether to pursue an appeal.”

A Vietnamese-American captain in the San Jose Police Department has been named one of the four deputy chiefs, reports the Mercury News here.

The promotion of Captain Phan Ngo, who received his golden captain’s bars just last year, is particularly timely given the severely strained relations between the police and the Viet community over allegations of brutality and the perception of coverups in those cases.

In fact, Captain Ngo, 43, will be the only nonwhite member of the department’s top command staff – which will, however, remain all male. He will be the head of the Bureau of Technical Services,  overseeing such areas as dispatch, communication, fingerprints, records, and the IT people, among other things.

A long drawn-out controversy over the shooting death of mentally ill Daniel Pham, and the still ongoing lawsuit over the beating of San Jose State math student Phuong Ho, have made the normally tolerant Viet community vocally distrustful of the police. (When the Bolsavik first reported the Phuong Ho story for Nguoi Viet Daily News, numerous SJ residents, ranging the gamut of age, gender and political views, gave highly negative comments about the police. The Bolsavik ended up publishing only a couple of them.)

In the aftermath of the beating, Captain Ngo was dispatched to speak to community groups and temper their anger. It worked. The case did not generate the same public protests as either the Pham case or the earlier police shooting of Bich Cau Pham.

As an 8-year-old, Ngo was airlifted by U.S. military helicopter out of Vietnam at the end of the war, and landed in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas with aunts and an uncle. His father, a soldier in the South Vietnamese army, had died in combat. Ngo never met his father.

Reached at his son’s elementary school basketball game, Ngo told the Mercury News, “I am very honored and very humbled.” He said one of his first calls after being promoted was to his aunt and uncle who raised him. They were, he said, “ecstatic.”

Police chief Rob Davis, who was Ngo’s sergeant when Ngo first joined the force in 1989, said of the promotion: “I picked him for his loyalty to the organization, his loyalty to the community and his loyalty to what our mission is. He gets the big picture of what we are trying to accomplish.”

Khuong Van Truong was caught when police raided his home in March 2008 and supposedly found “over 11,000 pirated video games, multiple game consoles and computer hardware used in the production of pirated game software.” He also had “4,000 pirated movie DVDs and over 300 pirated audio CDs.”

Khuong Van Truong pleaded guilty in December, and on April 22 a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced him to 10 months in jail and ordered him to pay the ESA $5,000 in restitution.

The press release quotes the CEO of the ESA as saying “Significant jail sentences in cases like Van Truong’s highlight the seriousness of game piracy as a crime and reflect the material harm inflicted on the artists and entrepreneurs who make computer and video games possible.”

Maybe, but consider this:

11,000 games + 4,000 DVDs + 300 CDs probably add up to $100,000. Maybe more.

The cost to ESA of investigating Khuong Van Truong, and the cost to the police of running the raid, is probably at least $30,000.

And the likelihood that Truong will actually spend all 10 months in jail is nil.

How many people think sentences like this actually reduce piracy?

Phan Ngo, once a refugee boy airlifted out of Vietnam when the communist forces overran Saigon in 1975, worked his way up the ranks at the San Jose Police Department and has now become the first Vietnamese-American police captain in the country, reports San Francisco’s KNTV-11 here. Ngo is pictured above, by KNTV, with his new golden captain’s bars.

As an 8-year-old (pictured below left), Ngo was airlifted by U.S. military helicopter and landed in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas with aunts and an uncle. His father, a soldier in the South Vietnamese army, had died in combat. Ngo has never met his father.

As a captain, Ngo now commands roughly 100 officers in the SJPD’s Central Division. Ngo was promoted back in January of this year.

He told the TV station, “Being Vietnamese-American is icing on the cake. It’s not the only reason or complete picture of how I got to where I am now.” His colleagues agreed that it was not his heritage, but rather his work as a cop, that earned him the captain’s bars.

Ngo’s policing philosophy, which he shared with officers in his command, is to “get out of the patrol car, walk the beat once in a while, get to know the people.”

He said he looked forward to the day the promotion of someone named “Nguyen” or “Sanchez” becomes a non-story.

Amen.